X, formerly Twitter, is where many people go to wage verbal warfare on social media. For some time, there has been an ongoing war between the #BillsMafia and the #RavensFlock, despite the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens being in different divisions and not having met in the postseason in recent years.
(The Ravens knocked the Bills out of the 2020 postseason in the divisional round in the only playoff meeting between these two teams).
The beef between bases centers around the National Football League Most Valuable Player award. Jackson earned his second NFL MVP award last season, and Bills fans believe that Allen deserved the nod instead.
Jackson had been running away from the rest of the pack this season, emerging as the clear midseason favorite. But now Allen, fresh off an actual MVP moment (helping to hand the reigning Super Bowl champs their first loss of the season), is running neck and neck with him.
Some oddsmakers now even have Allen as the favorite. So who is going to win? It all depends on how the voters define the term most valuable player.
If you regularly watch Ravens games (given that you clicked over to this site, we’re pretty confident that you do), you’ll notice that Jackson consistently makes something out of nothing.
Multiple times a game, every game, he takes a play that could be disastrous and turns it into something positive.
Steve Walsh, who played quarterback in the NFL for a decade and even led the Chicago Bears to a playoff win (not many people have been able to say that post-Walter Payton era), summarized it perfectly.
“Lamar Jackson, who I got to see up close and personal as a coach when he was in high school down in Florida, has developed his passing game over the years,” Walsh said in an exclusive with RG.
“But he still has unbelievable escapability ingrained deep in his talent pool to be able to escape and pick up three to five first downs with his legs on simple dropbacks.”
Walsh is right—Jackson has established himself as a phenomenal pure passer. He can consistently convert third downs and keep the chains moving in situations where it looks like nothing positive is happening, which makes him truly special.
Jackson wins MVP awards because he’s consistently saving the Ravens from bad situations.
However, you can also define MVP as a player who leads his team to higher ground despite having less to work with. According to The Sporting News, this concept works in favor of Allen and his supporters. They base their argument around the statistic of wide receiver separation.
As the chart below shows, WR separation metrics work strongly in favor of Josh Allen and severely against Lamar Jackson.
Average receiver separation on all routes and QB charted accuracy rate pic.twitter.com/vXCxx6am9Z
— Jrfortgang (@throwthedamball) November 13, 2024
And having a chart makes this argument seem all the more scientific.
The numbers show that Jackson is the more efficient and prolific passer and the superior rusher.
However, Allen has led his team to a better record.
Allen
Through the air: 217 of 339 passing (64%), 2,543 yards, 18 TDs, 5 INTs
On the ground: 67 carries, 316 yards, 5 TDs
Record as a starter: 9-2
Jackson
Through the air: 215 of 321 passing (67%), 2,876 yards, 25 TDs, 3 INTs
On the ground: 95 carries, 584 yards, 2 TDs
Record as a starter: 7-4
Given that this argument will certainly not be settled tonight, we’ll just leave it there for now.
